military-industrial complex

From military (adjective) +‎ industrial (adjective) +‎ complex (noun), popularized by Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), the 34th President of the United States, in his farewell address in 1961: see the quotation.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌmɪ.lɪ.tə.ɹi ɪnˌdʌs.tɹi.əl ˈkɒmplɛks/, /ˌmɪ.lɪ.tɹi-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌmɪ.ləˌtɛ.ɹi ɪnˌdʌs.tɹi.əl ˈkɑmˌplɛks/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mil‧it‧a‧ry–in‧du‧stri‧al com‧plex

military–industrial complex (plural military-industrial complexes) (originally and chiefly US, commerce, military)

1. Military and industrial facilities situated in the same place. [from early 20th c.]
   • 1953 summer, Waldo W. Moore, “The Defense of Shreveport—the Confederacy’s Last Redoubt”, in Victor Gondos, Jr., editor, Military Affairs: Journal of the American Military Institute, volume XVII, Baltimore, Md.: American Military Institute, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 74, column 1:

     Likewise, Shreveport was the heart of a military–industrial complex that extended west to Marshall, Texas, and northwest to Jefferson, Texas, 50 miles from Shreveport to which it was linked by steamer through Cypress Bayou and Caddo Lake.

2. (also politics, often derogatory) A nation's armed forces and industries (especially those supplying weapons and other materiel) collectively, regarded as a strong vested interest exerting great influence on the government.

   Synonyms: (abbreviation) MIC, war machine

   • 1961 January 17, Dwight D[avid] Eisenhower, “The White House: Text of the Address by President Eisenhower, Broadcast and Televised from His Office in the White House, Tuesday Evening, January 17, 1961, 8:30 to 9:00 p.m., EST”, in Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home‎^[1], archived from the original on 14 January 2026, section IV, page 3:

     This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. […] In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.

   • 2025 August 4, Sheera Frenkel, “Silicon Valley enlists in the business of war”, in The New York Times‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 4 August 2025:

     Over the past two years, Silicon Valley's leaders and investors—many of whom had once forsworn involvement in weapons and war—have plunged headfirst into the military industrial complex.

• military-industrial complex on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “military-industrial complex, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2025.
• “military–industrial complex, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.